Page 101 of To No End

Varro raised an eyebrow with intrigue.

I started to say, “I know it sounds stra—”

“When did you start feeling it?” he cut me off, sounding more serious than I’d expected.

“The first time was when we all bathed in the waters of Mirtith at the palace. I thought it was our powers awakening, but no one else has mentioned it to me,” I hypothesized.

“I felt it too, it started at the same time as yours. I don’t know if it’s what you think it is...” Varro confirmed.

I was too ecstatic to hear someone else had experienced this and that it began at the same time as mine. I ignored his doubts about what had caused it. I was almost certain it had something to do with our magic, or these waters, and I was going to make sure to ask the others about it.

“You really don’t remember anything, do you?” Varro inquired.

“Remember what?” I replied, confused and not wanting to leave the topic of the strange sensation now that I had found someone who could relate to it.

Varro stood, slowly making his way toward me.

“There was an explosion. It was big enough that it shattered everything in the vicinity. It was so loud that my ears still haven’t stopped ringing. That’s what stopped Nix and all his guards.”

By now Varro practically hovered above me.

“Who set off an explosion?” I asked, curious to understand how we were saved when we needed it most.

He reached out, cupping both sides of my face in his rough hands. I leaned into the warmth of the gesture before he uttered the words, “You did, Cress.”

I yanked back from his touch, wide-eyed, unable to make sense of what he had just proclaimed.

“What did you just say?”

“Cress...you caused the explosion. I can’t explain it. We were seconds away from being impaled by a mass of arrows. I wascovering you to protect you, but there’s no way either of us would have survived. Suddenly, everything went still. It was as if the entire room shattered with one large burst of energy.”

His words were rushed, and with each detail he recollected, the memory of it became clearer in my mind.

My hands started to tremble under the water, and my skin began to crawl as the images returned. The memory of Trace’s blank stare. All of the bloodied guards strewn about. Some injured, others dead. Shards of glass, everywhere. The sound of distant screams.

“Oh Gods, what did I do?”

He could tell I was beginning to panic, the reality of having hurt so many people, even killed some—real people, not Vespers… The tears sat at the edge of my lashes, begging for release as a deep uncontrollable sob climbed up from my chest and erupted.

Varro reached out instinctively and pulled me into a tight hug, holding my limp body while I wept. Confused and scared, no longer familiar with myself after what I’d done. I didn’t know how I did it, or what it meant.

Pulling me into his firm golden chest, he held me, letting me fall apart. He began to gently caress the back of my head and whispered, “You’re okay. I got you. You did good, Moirai.”

I awoke in the morning to the sound of banging on my door. Groggily, I pulled myself away from the covers and cracked the door to be greeted by none other than Saryn himself. This wasn’t the person I wanted to be face-to-face with.

“Get dressed and come with me,” he ordered.

I shut the door and quickly threw on clothing, uninterested in following Saryn anywhere but knowing it really wasn’t a choice.I had built up quite an appetite and would rather be making my way to the dining hall.

I was surprised to discover my pain had dissipated. Now and then I felt a phantom jolt, but I knew it was all in my head and hoped with a few more days I’d forget the feeling entirely. Wouldn’t it be nice if I could also forget how Trace had left me for dead?

When I stepped out the door, Saryn shoved an apple in my hand. This was as close as he got to being considerate. I began to devour the apple while following closely behind him as he led us in the far opposite direction of the dormitories. The only thing I knew about this hall was that it had to be where Saryn and Theory stayed, since we’d watched them head off in the same direction each night.

We arrived at a solid-black metal door, its cold severity contrasting the wooden ones throughout the rest of the fortress.

“Hold out your hand,” Saryn requested dryly.

Unwilling to argue with him this early in the morning, I did as he asked. Holding my raised hand in his, my palm facing up, he said, “Get ready to bite into that apple.”

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